BIRDS OF THE CONGO 
are the fears of African birds kept 
sharpened by their other more numerous 
enemies, rapacious mammals, birds and 
reptiles? Many small Congo birds take 
wing at thirty yards or more; although 
in strong contrast to this, one bird, the 
common black-and-white wagtail is so 
confiding that it nests in the thatched 
roofs, and walks about on the verandas, 
coming up to within six feet sometimes 
if one sits very quiet. 
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Others are not only shy but also very 
clever at hiding away in dense vegeta- 
tion, their voices alone betraying them. 
I remember particularly some small 
brown warblers (Bradypterus) in the 
papyrus, whose prolonged chirping notes 
and loud wing-beats induced me_ to 
spend hours and hours breaking path- 
ways into the swamps, often knee-deep 
or more in mud and water, and then 
waiting motionless, until at last, after 
Wild date palms in a papyrus swamp, bearing large numbers of nests of a large yellow-and- 
black weaver bird (Hyphantornis cucullatus). 
Many weavers are fond of nesting on boughs over- 
hanging rivers, also on thorny trees or vines, and a few species build in the tree where an eagle, 
buzzard or marabou is nesting, also evidently for protection 
